I only have anecdotal evidence but occasional 24 hour fasts seem to reset my appetite in a way that makes me less hungry throughout the day. The easiest way to do it is to start after lunch - and have a late lunch the next day.
I eventually tried the low-carb (actual low-carb of <100g carbs/day, not the fake one nutritionists study where "low" is like 40% carbs in your diet) because I kept hearing about it and it was so easy to self-experiment, so why not?
It was like the scales fell from my eyes when I realized that much of what I thought was "hunger" my whole life was actually "addictive cravings" for carbohydrates. And I was really not a fan of grains and sugary stuff to begin with.
Both groups lost weight equally. They didn't lose weight because of that particular diet, they lost weight because they made better decisions daily, stopped eating out, and stopped buying processed foods.
Because I can tell you one thing for sure, the reason I lost weight (and I was only slightly overweight) is because I ate less. And I ate less because I craved less food.
I'm open to the idea this is due to more home cooking rather than low carb per se but I doubt it... I could possibly test this by eating some noodles or homemade pizza or something.
I find your question interesting, though. Why do you not care about what the low-fat diet was as well?
Also, since they lost weight on the low-carb diet, I can only assume that it's one that works!
Like I said, I already wasn't a big consumer of carbs/sugar to begin with though.
1. I didn't feel hungry anymore, so I didn't want to eat. I had to force myself to eat protein so I wouldn't lose muscle.
2. I couldn't do strenuous exercise for at least a week afterwards. I could walk for several km at a time but running was difficult. Running up stairs even more so. But once I was fully adjusted to the diet 7-10 days in, I could do all of those things.
I'll return to this diet later this year. Really looking forward to it.
I've been doing intermittent fasting for about 3 months now. I fast for 16 hours, and have 2 meals a day (lunch at 12PM and dinner at 8PM), I eat 0 to low carbs, since my diet is mostly animal based products (meat and eggs, and I have protein powder from beef and egg which I occasionally take as well).
I really don't feel hungry at all, never. It's insane. I go to the gym at 7AM, after 11 hours of fasting, and I can workout just fine. The difference has been absolutely crazy.
workout without breakfest does work, although if I go to very heavy weights, I tend to take a bit of BCAA before the workout.
> since my diet is mostly animal based products (meat and eggs
Bad news. I'd recommend a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet if you'd like to improve your health.
It’s surprising how quickly your body adapts to a total change. It’s worth experiencing before you make a decision.
But, I found out, it's actually just a mindset thing. Once I realized that, I found that I could go to bed hungry and still get a great nights sleep. I know it sounds incorrect but sometimes attitude and mindset really can influence outcomes.
You can improve quite a lot about your life if you can control your mindset.
It’s been my experience that after seven to ten days fasted, my sleep cycle is basically ‘ideal’ — for me that’s getting tired between 2200 and 0100, and waking up naturally between 0600 and 0830.
Of course you can get the same result by just eating less, but fasting is quicker and more dramatic, not to mention that total abstinence for a short period is easier for some than fine control over a longer period.